Electric drive for ship winches



Feb. 26, 1957 Filed Sept. 24. 1954 K. HAAS AL ELECTRIC DRIVE FOR SHIP WINCHES 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 26, 1957 K. HAAS ETAL 2,783,398

ELECTRIC DRIVE FOR SHIP WINCHES Filed Sept. 24, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

United States Patent 2,783,398 ELECTRIC DRIVE FOR SHIP WINCHES Karl Haas, Siegfried Vol], and Friedrich Zehdnicker, Nurnberg, Germany, assignors to Siemens-Schnckertwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Siemensstadt, many, a corporation of Germany Application September 24, 1954, Serial No. 458,135 Claims priority, application Germany September 25, 1953 Claims. (Cl. 310-57) Our invention relates to electric drives for marine winches and other similarly exposed machinery, such as loading winches aboard ship or capstans.

The electric motors for driving such machinery are usually equipped with a splashproof and totally enclosed housing. Such an enclosure entails power losses so that relatively large and expensive machines are required. For that reason, it has also become known to use airdraft cooled machines and to close the air vents by lids when the machine is not in operation. To make certain that during inactive periods the lids are not inadvertently left open, thus exposing the coil insulation and other interior parts to damage or destruction by humidity and other atmospheric conditions, the air-vent lids have been controlled by valves operating in dependence upon the starting devices of the enclosed motor. Such apparatus are intricate and hence also expensive.

It is an object of the invention to provide a drive for use under the above-mentioned conditions that cannot only be given a smaller size than required for the known totally enclosed, splashproof drives but also aflfords a simpler, more reliable and better protective design than the known forced-air cooled drives.

To this end, and in accordance with a feature of our invention, we provide a drive for ship winches or similarly exposed machinery with an enclosed and surfacecooled squirrel-cage motor and give the housing of the motor a number of radial cooling ribs of which the majority are merging or integral with rib portions that extend in the axial direction along the back or top of the housing so that the cooling-air channels, formed by and between adjacent ribs, can be supplied with an air flow that passes, from the belly or bottom of the housing, on both sides peripherally around the housing to the back or top, and thence axially along the back or top, to finally return on both housing sides to the belly or bottom side.

According to other features of our invention, the above-mentioned housing is enclosed in a water-proof shell with which an air-duct structure is tightly joined to form communications between the above-mentioned air channels and the ambient air. The duct structure encloses a blower and is equipped with a closure for watertightly sealing the interior when the drive is not in operation.

These and other features of the invention, set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be more fully described with reference to the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a partly sectional side view of a loading winch drive, and Fig. 2 is a cross section along the line II- II in Fig. 1.

The illustrated winch drive has a squirrel-cage motor of the enclosed and surface-cooled type. The substantially cylindrical housing 1 of the motor is provided with a mounting flange 2 for attachment to the winch proper (not illustrated) so that the winch is driven by the horizontal shaft 2 of the motor. The housing 1 is provided with exterior cooling ribs. The ribs located near the two axial ends of the housing have a. portion 3 that extends peripherally around the bottom or belly side of the housing and merges near the back or top of the housing with axially directed rib portions 4. The rib portions 4 merge with peripheral rib portions 3 at the other axial side of the housing. In addition to the just-mentioned spacially curved group of ribs, a number of radial ribs 5 are located in the central portion of the housing, each extending around the belly side of the housing within a single radial plane and ending on the back of the housing at a point downwardly spaced from the lowermost rib portion 4.

The housing 1 and the ribs are enclosed by a shell 6 of sheet metal which is water tightly mounted on the housing. A box-shaped duct structure 7, joined with the shell 6 and also water-tightly connected with the housing 6, contains an air impeller formed by a blower 8 and a blower motor 9. The duct structure 7 extends beneath the belly side of the housing over the entire axial length of the housing and serves for conducting the incoming fresh air as well as the outgoing heated air. A partition 12 divides the duct structure into two chambers 10 and 11 whose openings can be closed and sealed by means of a single lid 13. The lid has hinges 14 on both sides of the machine so that the lid can be opened toward one or the other side depending upon the conditions at the particular location of the winch drive. Coupled with, or engageable by, the lid 13 is a limit switch 15 which is mounted in the air-outlet chamber 11 of the duct structure 7 and serves to disconnect the drive motor from its power supply when the lid 13 is closed.

A magnetic brake 16 is joined with the motor at the axial side opposite the power take-oil end of shaft 2'. The terminals 17 for connecting the winch motor to its power supply, as well as the terminals 18 for the blower motor 9 and the terminals 19 for connection of the limit switch 15, are mounted beneath the magnetic brake 16 in a common connection box serviceable from the front side of the machine. The blower assembly 8, 9 is designed as a unit which, as a whole, can readily be placed into or disassembled from the machine.

The cooling air, inducted by the blower when the lid 13 is open, blows at first along the driving side of the machine through the channels formed by the radial cooling ribs 3, 4, 5 in the shell 6. This air flow passes from below over both sides of the motor housing 6 in the peripheral direction thereof until it reaches the back or top portion of the housing. Thence the flow is axially directed to the other side of the machine, where it is conducted back to the belly side and to the outlet chamber 11 of the duct structure 7.

By virtue of the fact that a winch drive according to the invention, as exemplified by the above-described embodiment, is equipped with a fully enclosed squirrel-cage motor of the surface-cooled type, the overall dimensions of the driving machine can be kept small, aside from attaining the advantage that the interior of the motor remains closed and sealed not only during idle periods but also during operation of the machine.

It will be recognized that the novel type of air ducting along the housing surface does not interfere with the usually desired addition of a magnetic brake. Besides, this type of air ducting also secures an excellent cooling of machines of large axial length as resulting, for instance, when the motor is a multiple-speed motor and has, within a single housing, a plurality of dynamoelectric systems operating with respectively difi'erent speeds of revolution upon a single motor shaft. As also apparent from the illustrated embodiment, the novel type of air ducting through the channels formed by the ribs of the motor housing, also facilitates providing the machine with forced cooling by means of an added blower unit, this being particularly favorable in view of the intermittent operation of winch motors.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, as regards design details and particular application, our in vention permits of various modifications and hence may be embodied in machines other than that specifically illustrated and described, without departing from the essential features of the invention and within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

We claim:

1. A marine-machinery drive, comprising an enclosed squirrel-cage motor having a housing substantially of cylindrical shape, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs being spacially curved and 7 having each a first portion extending paripherally around one side and toward the opposite side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of saidiirst portion and extending near said opposite side in substantially parallel relation to the axial direction of saidhousing, and a third portion merging with said second portions and extending therefrom peripherally back and around said one side of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs'form channels from one location of said one housing side to said opposite side and thence back to another location of said one side; a shell enclosing said housing and having openings near said one periphery side of said housing; and m'r impeller means joined with said shell near one of said two locations for circulating cooling air through said channels.

2. An electric drive for marine winches and the like machinery, comprising an enclosed squirrel-cage motor having'a substantially cylindrical housing, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs having each a first portion extending peripherally around the underside and upwardly toward the top side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said first portion and extending on said top side ofisaid housing in substantially parallel relation to said axis, and a third portion merging with said two second portions in axially spaced relation to said first portion and extending from said second portions downwardly and around said underside of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form continuous cooling channels from one location of said underside to said top side and thence back to another location of said underside; a shell enclosing said housing and ribs, said shell having openings near said two locations; and air impeller means joined with said'shell nearone of said two locations for circulating cooling air through said channels.

3. A marine-machinery drive, comprising an enclosed squirrel-cage motor having a housing substantially of cylindrical shape, said housing having ribs; a plurality of said ribs being specially curved and having each a first portion extending peripherally around one side and toward the opposite side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said'first portion and extending near said opposite side in substantially parallel relation to the axial direction of said housing, and a third portion merging with said second portions and extending therefrom peripherally back and around said one side of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form channels from one location of said one housing side to said opposite side and thence back to another location of said one side; a shell enclosing said housing andhaving openings near said one periphery side of said housing; an air supply duct tightly joined with said shell to form part thereof, said duct having a chamber communicating with only one of said two locations of said housing; and air impeller means mounted in said duct chamber for passing cooling air through said shell openings and said channels.

4. A marine-machinery drive, comprising an enclosed squirrel-cage motor having a housing substantially of cylindrical shape, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs being specially curved and xterior cooling having each a first pontion extending peripherally around one side and toward the opposite side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said first portion and extending near said opposite side in substantially parallel relation to the axial direction of said housing, and a third portion merging with said second portions and extending therefrom peripherally back and around said one side of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form channels from one location of said one housing side to said opposite side and thence back to another location of said one side; a shell enclosing said housing, a duct structure joined with said shell at said one side of said housing, said duct structure having two chambers communicating with said channels at said two locations respectively and having respective openings communicable with ambient air; air impeller means mounted in one of said two chambers for circulating ambient air through said channels; and a single watertight lid mounted on said duct structure and covering both said openings when closed.

5. A drive as set forth in claim 4-, comprising a motor control switch having actuating means engageable with said lid for preventing operation of said motor when said lid is closed.

6. In a drive as set forth in claim 4, said lid having two selectively operable hinges joining said lid at opposite sides thereof to said direct structure, whereby said lid can be opened toward one and the other side respectively.

7. An electric drive for marine winches and the like machinery, comprising a totally enclosed drive motor having a normally horizontal axis and having a substantially cylindrical housing, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs having each a first portion extending peripherally around the underside and upwardly toward the top side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said first portion and extending on said top side of said housing in substantially parallel relation to said axis, and a third portion merging with said two second portions in axially spaced relation to said first portion and extending from said second portions downwardly and around said underside of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form continuous cooling channels from one location of said underside to said top side and thence back to another location of said underside; a shell enclosing said housing and ribs, a duct structure joined with said shell beneath said underside of said housing and having a partition so as to form two chamber communicating with said two locations respectively; air impeller means mounted in one of said chambers; said two chambers havizn respectiveopenings for communication with the ambient air; and a sealing closure mounted on said structure and covering, when closed, both said openings.

8. in-adrive as set forth in claim 1, said ribs of said housing comprising at least one rib of substantially plane and arcuate shape disposed between said first and third portions of said specially curved ribs and extending peripherally around said one side of the housing periphery and toward said second portions of said spacially curved ribs.

9. An electric drive comprising an enclosed squirrelcage motor having a housing substantially of cylindrical shape, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs being spacially curved and having each a first-portion extending peripherally around one side and toward the opposite side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said first portion and extending near said opposite side in substantially parallel relation to-the axial direction of said housing, and a third portion merging with said second portions and extending therefrom peripherally back and around'said one side of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form channels from one location of said one housing side to said opposite side and thence back to anotherdocationof said one side.

10. An electric drive comprising an enclosed squirrelcage motor having a housing substantially of cylindrical shape, said housing having exterior cooling ribs; a plurality of said ribs being spacially curved and having each a first portion extending peripherally around one side and toward the opposite side of said housing, two second portions merging with the respective ends of said first portion and extending near said opposite side in substantially parallel relation to the axial direction of said housing, and a third portion merging with said second portions and extending therefrom peripherally back and around said one side of said housing, whereby said plurality of ribs form channels from one location of said one housing side to said opposite side and thence back to another location of said one side; and said ribs of said housing comprising a plurality of further ribs of substantially References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,377,325 Durnford May 10, 1921 1,844,193 Uggla Feb. 9, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 450,045 Great Britain July 9, 1936 632,854 Germany July 20, 1936 

